Hola everyone!
I hope you all are having a wonderful day. Firstly, I would like to thank all of you for the amazing response on the posts I have been doing. All that encouragement is absolutely endearing. As a blogger and a baker , that is what I aim at doing. The happiness on receiving a good response on a post is unparalleled. Or maybe, its just me, haha 😀 And secondly, welcome to another edition of the ‘Tips and Suggestions’! This post is essentially back because of all of you. So another thank you 🙂
A lot of you have tiny questions about the baking methods, some stuff here and there, which I will be sharing in the post as much in detail as possible. Also, you are free to reach out to me whenever you have a query or something. So lets begin,
Equip yourself well.
Most of the people are unsure about the temperatures of the oven, in a sense that they measure the accuracy of the oven temperature, and whether or not, that is the desired temperature or not. It’s not something that happens instantly and everyone goes through that phase. The more you understand your oven, the better it will perform. And its absolutely normal, because all of us have faced that kind of a situation. Also because all ovens are not calibrated properly, is why most of us have to face this situation. Therefore, I feel its always good to equip yourself well. And so I’d recommend an oven thermometer for all those who find temperatures a fuss. The oven temperature solves that problem for you, and swear by what it reads. You can find it here. 🙂
Cups or grams? I’m not too sure.
Relax, guys. Its just a tiny issue. People are often confused about whether cups go well or gms are the right call. Well, a kitchen scale is the right call. Rather than being unsure about whether a cup equals 150gms or 160 gms, the better choice is to weigh it. Trust me, you will never go wrong. And thats exactly what machines are for, making life easier for us. I remember how I used to google ‘cups to grams’ conversions so I reach the accurate amount of the ingredient, until I found the kitchen scale. Its actually really funny to recall stories like that, where you feel like you’ve been there. You can find it here. 😀
Choose your booze wisely.
If you’re aiming to use booze for your cakes/cupcakes, make sure you choose it wisely. Keep the idea of the cake and its flavor in mind. Because you are trying to amp up the flavor here, so its important to be sure. For instance, a bourbon would work for your pies and a Kahlua for your brownies. Well, that goes for personal drinking choices too. If you know what I mean 😉
Can the pie dough be better?
Well, yes. The pie dough can be a tough deal for the start. A lot of bakers mention that their pie lacks the goodness of the crust. I will be doing a post for the pie dough super soon, but a quick tip here would be to to use cubes of solid butter here and using your hands to mix the flour and the butter. Because the hand blend is what makes the ancient dough so much better. Thats what makes it more flaky and gorgeous. I hope that helps 😀
Can’t we just use a whisk for the blending ?
Well, yes you can. But mostly, recipes require more seamless and effortful beating. Hence, the mixer. Invest in a high quality mixer because that is one extremely important equipment. And yes, a quick tip while using the mixer especially for whipping cream is to actually keep moving the bowl instead of the mixer. That is only in case you have a hand mixer, BTW. A stand mixer works just fine. And a good policy is to only mix until its light and fluffy. Overbeating is not a very helpful tool. If you don’t have a mixer, find it here or here 🙂
How to frost a cake correctly ?
There is no secret to a well frosted cake. The more you work with cream, the better you can get. A good first rule while frosting is to frost your cakes with the crumb coat, which is the base layer of frosting. Keep it in the refrigerator for a good chill, and then frost again. It will add that beautiful shine to your wonderful cake.
Don’t scatter, ASSEMBLE!
Another quick tip for all you wonderful bakers is to assemble things well. You must always and always collect your ingredients, measure the quantities and assemble them before you begin the baking process. I’m sure you don’t want to look out for cocoa powder in the middle of whisking eggs while your oven is calling for the cake batter. Therefore, collect and assemble. 🙂
These were a couple of queries that were on my DM. I had a great timing talking to so many enthusiastic bakers around. If you have any more questions, feel free to reach out to me and I’d be happy to help. But a suggestion I would like to share from my personal experience of self teaching is, to be PATIENT. Baking requires a lot of patience, dedication and the skill to experiment. So never let that spirit go down for you. :*
Until next time, happy reading and happy baking guys!!
Love,
Xx
The Girl Who Bakes 